AnnaInSpain

(28/10/22-31/10/22)

Fun Fact:

Population of Spain: 47,000,000

Number of Tourists in 2019: 83,000,000

Barcelona! One of the most popular destinations in the world to visit and receives millions of tourists every year. The number of tourists that visited Spain in 2019 is almost double the population of Spain.

I started my journey to Barcelona on Friday October 28th in the morning taking a taxi to the Granada-Jaen airport and then had an hour and a half flight to the Barcelona airport. Then from the airport I took a taxi to my hostel located in center of Barcelona. I stayed at the TOC hostel which is a chain in Spain, and it was a very pleasant experience, and I would highly recommend it to anyone staying in a location that has one. After I arrived, I couldn’t check in until three, but they let you keep your luggage there and in a safe spot. Of course, the most logical plan of action afterwards was to start exploring Barcelona. Since I didn’t want to spend money taking a taxi around the city, I did my best to visit the locations within walking distance. I started off my tour of Barcelona walking to the cathedral. In each city of Spain there is generally a main cathedral. My next destination was the Arc de Triompf, there are a few of these arcs located in different cities around the world the most famous one being in France. Then afterwards I headed toward a museum to take a picture of the beautiful exterior and walked back towards the hostel to check in and relax a bit. My last destination was La Sagrada Familia, and I can now happily cross it off of my travel bucket list. I enjoyed Barcelona a lot and I’ve heard that you either prefer Madrid or Barcelona. In this case I prefer Barcelona, however it varies depending on the person. I also felt extremely safe in Barcelona. I have discovered though that I prefer smaller cities as a personal preference.

I was very excited for the evening to have dinner with one of my friends Jessie who is studying in Barcelona for the entirety of her degree. We met in Costa Rica in 2019 when I returned to visit my host family and she was doing an exchange through 4-H the same program I had done the summer before in 2018. We met at school randomly when I spotted a fellow group of Americans and spent time with them throughout the month at school, Jessie being one of them. Despite not having a full conversation for three years we both ended up studying in Spain and knew we had to meet up. We had three years of life to catch up over dinner but luckily that wasn’t the end of our time together. We spent the evening together walking around Barcelona and Jessie last minute was able to spend the weekend with me in Andorra and we were able to make more memories together. One of my favorite things about our friendship is the spontaneity of it, everything about our friendship has been spontaneous from the moment we met to Andorra. Our friendship has also taught me that not all friendships require constant communication and certain friendships you can pick up where you left off even years later.

We had many interesting conversations over the course of our three days together. One interesting conversation being the dominance of the Catalan language in Catalonia. In many cases from my understanding the order of languages people prefer to speak in first goes Catalan, English, and lastly Spanish. I knew prior going to Spain that I wanted to be in a location where I could practice my Spanish and for this reason, I’m grateful I picked Granada. There is a strong international population in Barcelona and Madrid and language learning being one of my top priorities this makes a difference.

Side Note: I must say the public transportation system in the areas of Spain I have visited have been amazing. Every time I have exited an airport there is a line of taxi’s waiting and it’s very easy to flag one down when walking. To visit close cities booking a bus or train ticket on the Omio app is very simple and is my primary way of getting to cities if it’s within a reasonable distance.

Andorra

Epiphany: I’m currently a 19-year-old young adult by myself on a bus riding through the Catalonian countryside to Andorra, my 8th country. I’m living my dreams and making them reality. I wasn’t sure before arriving if English was spoken there so I would be communicating using Spanish primarily. If you asked me in eighth grade if I thought, I would ever be able to communicate in Spanish with natives I’d tell you that would never happen. The Pyrenees are truly incredible and being surrounded by these mountains made me realize just how big the world is and how much of it I have left to explore. The minute I left my little town I grew up in to go to Costa Rica in 2018 my world changed and so did the trajectory of my life. All it takes is that one step to go outside your comfort zone.

Andorra is one of those countries that takes your breath away. A small country located between Spain and France with a population of around 85,000. The official language is Catalan, but Spanish, French, Portuguese, and English commonly spoken there. If I had to describe Andorra in one word, I would say “underrated.” Many of the small countries are often overlooked but sometimes they end up becoming one of your favorite countries. Andorra contains some of the most beautiful sights that I’ve ever seen, and the nature is incredible. If you enjoy the outdoors, hiking, and beautiful views Andorra is the country to visit. Even if you don’t particularly enjoy the first two it’s worth visiting. The bus system is very efficient and goes to each city on a 15-minute schedule. You can buy passes for single use passes, 10 swipes or more and multi day passes from the bus drivers using cash.

I started off my trip to Andorra waking up early Saturday morning and taking the metro to Estacion de Nord in Barcelona (I’m proud to say I have navigated the metro in Barcelona a few times). Then I took a bus to La Vella, Andorra that lasted four hours. Jessie and I were supposed to travel to Andorra together but due to a complication we ended up taking different buses. The bus ride was a pleasant ride through the Catalonian countryside and various small towns. When I was around halfway through the journey and on the bus in between the Pyrenees mountains I had my epiphany (first paragraph). I arrived to Andorra around mid-day and thanks to my mom I knew I could buy a bus ticket straight to La Massana where my hostel was located. Since I have a Spanish SIM card my data didn’t work in Andorra, so I had to rely on the kindness of people for a little help. A nice Columbian guy who lived in Florida for a few years helped me buy a 10-swipe bus ticket and told me which stop to get off and another couple helped direct me to the street my hostel was on. Eventually I ended up walking in circles and went to a hotel to ask, it turns out I was too far up the street and had passed it. I did end up making it to the hostel. All in all, the people of Andorra were very kind and helpful.

I arrived at the hostel, and it turns out I had three Argentinian roommates. Jessie ended up arriving a few hours later and we spent the rest of the day exploring La Massana and relaxing. Sunday, we woke up around 8 am and didn’t have any specific plans for the day. My goal for the trip was to be spontaneous and not have plans but instead to enjoy living in the moment. Since neither of us had data however we had to take photos of the bus lines and maps and navigate the old-fashioned way. It was actually quite fun, and I learned to trust our instincts. Apparently, we looked like we knew what we were doing because we got asked by other tourists how to get to the center at one of the bus stations. We ended up taking the bus to Ordino a city near La Massana. One shock factor about Andorra was the size of the country and our perception of size. To get from the south end to the north of Andorra realistically in car would probably only take four hours if not less. We spent the morning exploring Ordino and climbing a few hills to some incredible views. Then we took the bus to La Vella and enjoyed a nice lunch. At first, we planned to go to another city and get lunch there and explore that city but instead we found ourselves tired. Instead of pushing ourselves we decided to just chill out in La Vella and walk around the city and ended up at an outdoor/indoor mall for a few hours.

Then we headed back to the hostel and ended up spending the evening with two of my Argentinian roommates. It’s quite funny because we made a joke that Jessie and I basically didn’t travel together because we arrived and left Andorra separate, and we didn’t even end up staying in the same room because she arrived later than me. We had dinner with Leo and Nicolas, and they taught us an Argentinian card game called “Truco” and we played “Taboo” in Spanish. Jessie and I learned a little about Argentina, practiced our Argentinian Spanish listening skills, and had a fun time. One of my favorite parts about traveling is meeting new people and making connections with people from different countries. Spanish truly changed my life and expanded the amount of people I can get to know on another level. Monday eventually arrived and Jessie and I said our goodbyes. I took the bus back to Barcelona and flew back to Granada.

This trip represents a multitude of new discoveries/life experience for me

• Independence
• A newfound inner confidence
• Inspiration to continue traveling and to places that are not as popular
• Trust my instincts
• Live in the moment/present
• Spontaneity